(Dinosaur) Rugops
primus

Rugops primus lived 95 million years ago on Africa.
It is an abelisaurid, a group of predators

(meat-eaters) known
only from southern landmasses-including South America, Madagascar, India and,
now, Africa. Its discovery suggests that Africa remain linked by a narrow
land bridge to South America and other southern landmasses until about 100-95
million years ago.

Abelisaurids
are meat-eaters (theropod dinosaurs) that have small, short-snouted skulls
armed with small pointed teeth. Some abelisaurids have cone-shaped horns projecting
from their skulls. Their snout bones have a wrinkled texture-a criss-cross
pattern of grooves for blood vessels-suggesting that in life their snouts
had a horny, or bill-like, covering, rather than scales. Small head size (relative
to their body) and small teeth suggest that they may have been scavengers.